Question

Basically I have a situation like this:

$search = array(
   '?',
   '?'
);

$replace = array(
   '1',
   '2'
);

When I try:

str_replace($search,$replace,"First value: ? Second Value: ?");

I get:

"First value: 1 Second Value: 1"  //> Notice the "1" repetead

Instead of

 "First value: 1 Second Value: 2"

How could I get the second result (even without the use of str_replace)?

Answer 1

preg_replace has a limit parameter so you can use that instead:

$search = array(
   '/\?/',
   '/\?/'
);

$replace = array(
   '1',
   '2'
);

echo preg_replace($search, $replace, "First value: ? Second Value: ?", 1);

// output: First value: 1 Second Value: 2

You can use array_fill to build the search array:

preg_replace(array_fill(0, count($replace), '/\?/'), $replace, $subject, 1);